Submarine vessel.



1 v No. 803,173. PATENTED 0013111905.

S. LAKE.

SUBMARINE VESSEL.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 17, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

SIMON LAKE,' OF BRIDGEPOBT, CONNECTICUT.

SUBMARINE VESSEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 31, 1905.

Application filed February 17, 1905. Serial No, 246,154.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIMON LAKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Submarine Vessels, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying draw ings. v

This invention has for its object to secure in the construction of submarine boats greater fore-and aft stability than has been practicable heretofore in vessels of this class.

According to the present improvement, the pressure-resisting'hull of the vessel is provided with a-buoyant deck, preferably spaced'materially above the same, and therefore affording in respect of the center of gravity of the hull a moment of considerable magnitude tending to maintain the vessel upon an even keel, particularly during the operation of submersion, when the centers of gravity and buoyancy approach each other somewhat under the changing conditions occurring in the course of'such operation. To insure a comparatively large displacement forthe upper portion of the ves-' sel, not only is the'deck preferably constructed of wood planking suitably calked to insure against penetration of water, but the sides of the superstructure are made of like material, thus providing an entire superstructure ofbuoyant material and preferably of buoyant construction. a

In the preferred form of the improvement the deck, which may form the top of the superstructure, comprises, first, a course of heavy transverseplanking resting upon but extending beyond the upper edges of the side walls of the superstructure to provide lateral guards or guide-planes along nearly the whole length of the vessel for maintaining its direction whenin motion nndersubmergence, and upon this foundation-course is secured a second course of longitudinal planking with an intermediate packing formed of a strong flexible fabric, such as canvas,.coated or saturated with an impervious or waterproof substance, such as paint or parafiin, the joints intermediate the planking being properly calked to exclude water. Above the courses described are laid transverse and longitudinal courses with interposed sheets of canvas coated with an impervious substance, these courses being arched and suitably supported intermediate the edges to provide an interspace which may be left vacant or may inclose blocks of cork or some-other filling of light material, the

upper and lower canvas sheets being over-' lapped at the edges and secured firmly together by a clamping-strip serving to seal from penetration of water the'space intermediate the courses of planking inclosingsuch impervious packing-sheets.

The vessel may be provided with any usual or suitable means for introducing and expelling water-ballast to and from the ballasttanks in'the lower portion ofthe pressureresisting hull and is preferably provided in addition with a depending solid ballast-weight capable of being shifted both vertically and longitudinally for purposes to be hereinafter described, such weight serving to lower the resultant center of gravity of the entire structure below the center of buoyancy under conditions of submergence.

The invention will be more fully understood .by reference to the drawings annexed,' in Which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a vessel constructed in accordance with the present invention, a portion of the walls amidship being broken outto expose the internal const'ruction and arrangement of certain parts. Fig. 2 is a transverse section, upon'a' larger scale, on line a mof Fig. 1 looking rearwardly; and Fig. 3, a partial sectional plan on line 7 1/ of Fig. 2, represent-siting the amidship portion of the vessel. Fig. 4: is a detail plan view representing, upon an enlarged scale, the construction of the deck of the superstructure.

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view representing.

the outboard discharge-pipe from the pump with its check-valve; Fig. 6, a detail sectional view representing the form of check-valve employed intermediate the water-ballast tanks, and Fig. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the depending ballast-weight and its hoisting mechanism.

The pressure-resisting portion 1 of the hull is or may be of the usual cylindro-coiioidal shape and provided with twin screw propeller-wheels'2, each carried by a suitable shaft 3, .driven for surface propulsion by gasoleneengines and for submerged propulsion by elec- I tric motors deriving their power from a system of storage batteries.

As shown herein, thehull proper, 1, is pro-- vided withthe diametrically opposite 'hori zontal guide-planes 4, extending longitudinally thereof and secured in position by means of suitable'angle-irons. Resting upon the angle-irons 5, with their outer faces substan- IIO tially tangential with the circular hull. are the side walls 6 of the superstructure, built up of heavy planking'secured together in any-wellknown 'or suitable manner andhaving the in-. termediate joints calked to make them watere tight. Resting upon-the upper edges of the side. walls 6 of the superstructure and the central beam 7 attached to the top of the hull1,

is a foundation-deck flooring comprising a course of transverse planks 8, somewhat overhanging the side walls, and thus forming along the upperedges of the superstructure a sec- 0nd pair of longitudinal guide-planes 9, the outer'e'dges of which are housed. in the wearin'g-ironsJO. The joints between the floorplanks- 8are stopped near the opposite edges by the stoppegs or dowel-pins'll, driven through the same into the upper edgesofthe side walls 6, and intermediate such pegs are calked to seal the same from penetration of water. Uppn the foundation-deck planking is secured by suitable means a course of lonupper double course of planking being secured at the edges upon the lower course 8, and supported between theedges by one or more longitudinal wooden strips 17, with the intermediate spaces unoccupied or filled with blocks of cork 18 or other li ht material, as indicated in Fig. 2. The edges of the sheets of packing 13 and 16 between the two double courses of planking are extended laterally over the ends of the rows of stop-pegs 11 and beyond the edges of the upper planking, and their overlapped edge portions are firmly secured together and-upon the foundation-planking 8 by means of longitudinal clamping-strips 19. By these means a comparatively light and highly-bhoyant superstructure is formed comprising a buoyant deck spaced materially above the-hull proper of the vessel, with the intermediate space inclosed by the also buoyant side walls formed by the planking 6, which may serve to house the various supply tanks or receptacles 20 and piping 21, as described in the United States Patent No. 714,921, granted lto 'ine December 2, 1902; but it will be readily understood that the side walls may be omitted without materially impairing the efiectiveness of the improvement, thebuoyant deck itself affording the principal buoyant moment around the center of gravity of the structure as a center for maintaining the trim of the vessel under all c ditions.

. While the particular character of apparatus for manipulating the water ballast to effeet the vessels submergence and ,return to contwlled by a gate-valve 28.

the surface is not a material-part of the present invention, 1 have represented in the accompanying drawings a preferred construction of such apparatus comprising a pair of rotary pumps 22, each driven by an electric motor 23 and having suction or'inlet pipes vcommunicating through the pipe 24, which is connected, by means ofan upright pipe 25' and distributing-pipe 26,with the sea-inlet pipe 27', The distributing-pipe 26 has the gate-valves 29 and 30, controllingits communication with the lower portion of each initial ballast-tank of the for:

'ward and after systems a and b, respectively,

the mouths of. said .pipe within each tank being-inclosed by a guard 31, open at the bot tom only, so as to' enable the suction induced in such pipe byone or both of said pumps todraw water from the lowest pointof the tank, while excluding the air which would. otherwise enter the pipe and destroy the. effective action of the pump when the level-of the water reached the top of the pipe. I

The discharge-passage of each pump is connected with a pipe 32,'extendi ng outboard and provided with a spring-controlled check-valve 33, whose externally-threaded stem 33 passes through a st'ufiin-g-box 33? in'the elbow fitting above the pump 22 and has a correspondinglythreaded thrust-collar33, between which and the stuifingbox 33 is interposed the surval've 33 to its seat. Lateral branches 35 and 36 from the discharge-pipe 32, controlled by -diate their controlling-valves and the super-' structureand provided with controlling-valves 41 and4c2, respectively.

Each tank of both systems'of forward and after ballast-tanks is connected at'the bottom;

to the adjacent tank or tanks by a passage having a check-valve 43, opening toward the primary tank of its respective system connected' with the pumps 22, as before'described, and at the top with the adjacent tanko'r tanks of its respective system through a passage having a check-valve 44 opening in the op posite direction, and the tank farthest from the primary tank of eachsystem is provided with an upwardly-extending air-vent pipe 45, communicating with the interior of thehull 1. As shown herein,'each check-valve is of well-known form, consisting merely, as rep resented in Fig. 6, ofa disk 44:, attached by a loose connection with the outer end of a swingingarm4fi, hinged to suitable lugs 47 upon the valve-plate 48, provided with a suitably-faced inclined seat 49 toreceive the valvevrounding spring "33, normally holding the of the superstructure may be filled by openpressure of water suflicient to cause its introduction into the superstructure, but to readily open for overflow when the pressure increases by the entire filling of the superstructure.

The valves 37 and 38 having been closed and the action of the pump arrested, the opening of the gate-valves 29 and 30 permits water to enter through the sea connection 27 and distributing-pipe 26 into the primaryforward and after ballast-tank, so as to fill the same before the overflow into the adjoining tanks of the respective systems through the checkvalves 44, the filling of which secondary tanks is followed by the similar inflow of water through checkvalves 44 into. the adjacent tanks of, both systems. Each of the valves 44 is or may be provided with. means, as the stop-screw 50, Fig. 6, for looking it shut to prevent positively the inflow of water into it from the adjoining section either by action of the pumping machinery or by reason of the'careening of the vessel, in which case a suitable fair-vent similar to that of the last tank of the system may be applied to each tank for release of the air-displaced from the adjacent filled tank, I nrestoring the buoyancy thus. partially orwholly destroyed, the sea-valve 28 having previously been closed, the ballast tanks may be pumped out by merely opening the gate-valv es 29 and 30 and setting the pumps in operation, when the 'water will be drawn from the primary tanks through the pipes 26, 25, and 24 to the pumps 22 and thence discharged outboard through the pipes 32, whose relief or check valves 33 are forced open for passage of the same. As will be obvious, the water from each initial tank will be'replaced b-ythatflowing in through the lower check-valve 43 from the adjoining tank, the contents of which is in turn similarly. replaced by that of the adja- 39,. 40, and'24, leading to the pumps and dis-" charge-pipes 32 leading therefrom.

Whilethe general arrangement of ballastpiping shown in'the drawings has been adopted particularly for convenience and simplicity of illustration, it is evident that it may be readily modified to suit the disposition of other apparatus and machinery commonly employed in submarine vessels.

The ballast-weight 51 is shown supported beneath the center of gravity of the structure by means of a pair of links 52 53, to the lower ends of which the same is pivoted, said links being suspended by pivotal pins 54 from the interior of the ballast-weight housing 55, constituting a hollow keel portion of the vessel. To control the position of the ballastweight, the latter is connected intermediate its ends with one extremity of a cable 56, whose other end is attached to a winding-drum 57-, disposed in a well in the bottom of the hull and mounted upona shaft 58. of which one end passes through a stuffing-box into the interior of the hull and carries a worm-wheel 59, meshing with a worm 60 upon the shaft of the actuating electric motor 61. To insure the direct lead of' the cable 56 from the ballast-weight 51 to the drum 5'], the after supporting-link 53 is forked at its upper end and the cable led between the branches thus formed.

For traveling upon the surface the drum 57 is operated to draw the ballast-weight 51 upwardly into its housing in the keel 55; but the ballast-weight is adjusted for submergence by lowering it to its operative 'position beneath the center of gravity .2, as before described. When the vessel is in proper trim for submergence, with'only a very small margin of buoyancy, a suflicient downward inclination may be given to the bow, either by the temporary shift, of its usual stern horizontal rudder or by a slight advance movement of the ballast-weight 51 forward of the center of gravity to cause the vessel to gradually descend beneath the surface of the water while in motion under the action of its propelling apparatus, and it is evident that contrary movement of the horizontal rudder or the ballast-weight will cause the vessel to rise to the surface; but for such purpose I prefer to i use ordinarily the pivoted hydroplanes mounted in the upper guide-planes 9, as described in the United States Patent No. 650,758, granted to me May 29, 1900.

Bythe provision of a buoyant deck for raising the center of buoyancy and a ballast weight depending materially below the hull for lowering the center of gravity .of the structure under conditions ofsubmergence it will be observed that 1 am enabled to greatly increase the fore-ahd-aft stability of that class of submarine vessels exemplified in my said: Patent No. 650,758. in which the descent and ascent in respect of the surface of the water are eflected upon an even keel, and the Vessel is thus rendered much more effective for actual service conditions than heretofore.

While I have shown and described herein a practical embodiment. of the present invention, it is to be understood that the improvement is susceptible of embodiment in structures differing widely in constructive details, and the invention is not, therefore, to be understood as being limited to the specific features of construction herein shown and described.

.various features represented, the relative length being in practice much greater than that indicated for the same breadth of beam.

While all of the various constructive features shown in detail herein are of my invention, I have not claimed certain of them in the present application,- as they form' the subjects of other applications filed simultaneously herewith.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is 1. A submarine boat constructed with a hull comprising a pressure-resisting body and a permanently-buoyant deck,and means for producing thesubmergence of the same.

2. A submarine boat constructed with a hull comprising a pressu re-resisting body, a superposed buoyant deck, and an intermediate superstructure, and means foreifecting the submergence of. the same.

comprising a'pressure-resisting body, a superposed permanently-buoyant deck, and an intermediate'superstructure, and means for introducing water ballast for overcoming the buoyancy of said hull.

4. A submarine boat constructed with a hull comprising a normally buoyant pressure-resisting body and a buoyant deck with a waterspace intermediate the same, and means for eifecting the submergence of the boat.

5. Asubmarine boat constructed with a hull comprising a normally buoyant pressure-resisting body and a buoyant deck with a closed water-space intermediate the same, and means for effecting the submergence of the boat.

6. A submarine boat constructed with a hull comprising a normally buoyant pressure-resisting body and a superposed deck formed of buoyant material, and means for efiecting the submergence ofthe same.

7. Asubmarine boat constructed with a hull r by means of clamping-strips secured to i 3. Asubmarine boatconstructed with ahull comprising a normally buoyant closed pressure-resisting body and a buoyant deck connected to but spaced above the same, and means for eifecting the submergence of the-same.

spaced floor-courses iuclosing a hermetically-- sealed space.

10. A submarine boat constructed with a hull comprising a normally buoyant pressureresisting body and a buoyantdeck formed with spaced floor-courses inclosing a hermetically-sealed space containingafillingof buoyant material.

11.. A submarine boat constructed with a hull comprising a normally buoyant pressureresisting body and a buoyant deck formed with spaced double layers of flooring with interposed sheets of material impervious. to moisture.

12. A submarine boat constructed with a hull comprising a normally buoyant pressurelesisting body and a buoyant deck formed with spaced double layers of flooring with interposed sheets of packing united at the edgkbs i; ve foundation layer of said flooring.

.13. A submarineboat constructed with a hull comprising a. normally buoyant pressureresisting body and a-buoyant deck formed with spaced'double layers of flooring with interposed packing composed ofcanvas coated with a suitable Waterproof substance.

.- 14. A submarine boat constructed with a to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SIMON LAKE.

Witnesses:

L. B. MILLER, HENRY J. MILLER. 

